3 ms·

Justification by faith, not works, right?

• DanielBMarkham 17y ago
  Yes. I believe it was initially sola fide (only by faith), but he also added sola scriptura (only by scriptures) and sola gratia (only by Grace) Luther was increasingly upset over being able to fully reconcile with God. Even at confession, he was concerned that in trying to do a good job confessing he might exaggerate his sins, committing another sin. He might feel proud that he did such a good job confessing, committing yet another sin. It was like an endless loop for him, which sounds a lot like this article. To top it all off, Luther saw the church selling indulgences, which basically meant you could write a check and then do bad things and you were covered. I think that was the straw that broke the camel's back. A similar observation, which this article did not make, is where famous people who break these rules are still deemed "okay" because of the monetary support they give to the correct causes. If Aaron had made this observation it would have been almost a perfect analogy to Luther's early concerns.
  • antipaganda 17y ago
    Giving indulgence money to rich bishops, to allow them to eat, drink, and bugger the choirboys, is ethically different to compensating for your high-consumption lifestyle by giving poverty-stricken subsistence farmers fresh water and their eyesight back. It does make a difference who you pay the money to.